Ponder: The Madness of Crowds

I eagerly awaited the publication of The Madness of Crowds ©2021, novel #17, by Louise Penny in the murder mystery series featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his inspector team of Jean-Guy Beauvoir and Isabelle Lacoste. In the words of Louise Penny in her September newsletter:

This latest book explores what happens when a crazy idea takes on the sheen of legitimacy when voiced by someone in authority. And is repeated. And repeated. What happens when normally rational, decent people accept an indecent proposal? What happens when they lose their good sense? When they lose their minds. When madness is normalized?

The setting was the familiar Three Pines near Montreal; the villagers were a comforting presence but did not play a major role. Although usually best to read Penny's books in order to see how the core characters morph and grow, The Madness of Crowds stands well on its own. Family relationships are key to some extent, but the reader is well informed of pertinent background information. It was more detective work-centric than character development focused. I enjoyed the book greatly and I took my time reading it. Having rushed through three previous books in rapid succession (8/27/21 multi-post) I'd learned to stretch out the reading pleasure. Slowing down was a good call. The murder crime in this book was very convoluted and required concentration to follow and solve.

The novel's time period occurs after the pandemic, thankfully. Since I tend to read for entertainment and escapism, I did not want to be immersed in the COVID viral drama that is still ongoing. Also, seeing that there is a satisfying life after the pandemic gave me hope that normalcy will exist in the future. The story occurs in the time between Christmas and New Year. Hearing the descriptive accounts of rosy-cheeked children and adults tobogganing, skating, and laughing while enjoying snow-filled, winter fun activities is encouraging. In this book the days of isolation and social distancing are over. Toasting  marshmallows over bonfires and waving sparklers at New Years Eve are delightful images. The artistry by MaryAnna Coleman on the endpapers of the hardcover book capture the magical feeling of celebration within the woods of Three Pines. 

However, there remains an after effect addressing economic recovery. One voice spreading economically-promising but morally-repugnant, statistic-based theories gains a foothold in the minds of people renewing their life styles but still shell-shocked from the pandemic. Someone associated with these theories is killed; whether the victim is murdered intentionally with motive, or accidentally due to mistaken identity, is yet to be determined.  I found that The Madness of Crowds proved to be very timely and thought-provoking. It builds heavily on current struggles both international (pandemic related) and American (national divisiveness). I am intentionally being vague about the particulars in this book to avoid divulging spoilers. Character interconnections to each other play key roles in ferreting out the killer. Multiple suspects are under serious consideration, each displaying a strong set of condemning factors associated with credible motive and means.

Crowd responses in some barely credible situations do not seem so far fetched, having seen some disheartening real-life news events on television and internet within the past several years. Some scenarios can't help but bring to mind political rallies and rampages of late. Parts of this book also made me uncomfortable due to some of my personal experiences. Despite some disturbing events – what murder mystery can be devoid of unpleasantness? – I still give The Madness of the Crowds a high five-star rating. As with Penny's works, it is sprinkled with a few lighter nuggets of thought on which to ruminate. View these tidbits as somewhat of a palate cleanse.

• "Having sex did not define an intimate relationship, any more than not having sex prevented one." [Chapter 14]
  
  
• "Beauvoir, who loathed what this woman stood for, quickly searched his feelings for any sign of pleasure at her pain, and found none." [Chapter 21]
  
  
• "Scientists might appear rational, but they were in fact completely at the mercy of their emotions. Because most never learned to face them." [Chapter 45]

★★★★★ Great! Read it!

Ponder: All the Devils Are Here: Gamache 16

With my completion of Louise Penny's 16th Gamache novel All the Devils are Here ©2020, I have finished reading all the books thus far published in the author’s Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, copyrighted one per year 2005 through 2020. I recently caught up on all my blog posts about them. Each of my reviews for the first twelve books, cites my familiarity with the family of characters, most from Three Pines, the quaint village in Quebec near the Vermont USA border. This sixteenth novel is set in Paris where Armand and his wife Reine-Marie travel for the birth of their fourth grandchild. They join up with Gamache’s former second in command Jean-Guy Beauvoir and his family. The Gamaches' son Daniel, his wife, and two granddaughters already live there as does Armand’s godfather, billionaire Stephen Horowitz. Stephen played an important role in Armand’s life following the death of Armand’s parents in a car crash when he was a young boy.  The trip is to be a joyful reunion. Since character portrayal is a strong suit of Louise Penny, and my familiarity with those characters is a comforting constant, pulling them all together in this novel was a treat. 

In addition to becoming better acquainted with other members of Inspector Armand Gamache’s family, I rode along on a tour of Paris seeing sights such as the Eiffel Tower (also on the book cover), the Paris Archives, gardens outside the Louvre, plus famous luxurious hotels and stores, to name a few. Although I have never been to Paris, I suspect that those who have, would also appreciate the street and bridge names, zones of Paris, and paths taken throughout the city.

 

A description of the famous department store Le Bon Marché made me think of visiting historic Macy's on State Street in Chicago with its tiffany ceiling (post dated 10/28/17). Per Chapter 12 of All the Devils Are Here

Le Bon Marché was the oldest, the first, store of its kind in Paris. Practically in the world. Opened in 1852, it pre-dated Selfridges in London by more than half a century. In fact, the Hotel Lutetia was built by the owner of the Bon Marche, primarily to give his customers someplace to stay while spending money in his remarkable store. He was a visionary. What he saw was wealth. What he could not have envisioned were the other uses his magnificent hotel would be put to. As children, Daniel and Annie had love nothing better than to ride up and down the famous white tiled escalators, looking out over the wares, the people, gawking at the huge installations that were as much art as marketing.

When Reine-Marie is trying to find the name of a cologne she detected lingering at the site of a murder, she describes it to a clerk of the perfume department of Le Bon Marché as "not fruity... citrusy... maybe a little woody... with a kind of chemically smell. The clerk responded

 “It seems we’re looking for a lemon tree made out of plastic. It’s a good thing you’re not trying to sell fragrances, madame.”

Some overnight stays and a good deal of the action takes place at the exorbitantly expensive adjacent Hôtel Lutetia. Reine-Marie quips that tea service for their party will cost her a kidney. Per Wikipedia

The Lutetia was built in 1910 in the Art Nouveau style to designs by architects Louis-Charles Boileau and Henri Tauzin. It was founded by the Bon Marché department store, which sits opposite it facing Square Boucicaut. ... The hotel is named for an early pre-Roman town that existed where Paris is now located. Famous guests over the years have included Pablo Picasso, Charles de Gaulle... Peggy Guggenheim .... James Joyce wrote part of Ulysses at the hotel.

Some of the parks and gardens throughout Paris and in particular outside the Louvre give other glimpses at the Paris setting. Watching his son and granddaughters romping about, Armand muses this interesting tidbit of wisdom.

Armand watched his son be a father, and smiled. Yes, it was far more important he be a great father than a good son.

Oh, yes. Besides the images of the characters and the scenes of Paris, which permeate my mind, there is indeed a great plot. Early on, shortly after everyones arrival in Paris reunion, Armand's 93 year old godfather, billionaire  Stephen Horowitz, is struck by a vehicle – intentionally it appears – and is in critical condition in the hospital.   Who and why  has done this leads to a quite convoluted plot, which centers around venture capitalists. Armand's son Daniel is in that business and there are indications that he may be involved in some underhanded financing and trades. There is also some over arching inexplicable friction between Armand and his son Daniel. A trip ensues to the Paris Archives to discover proof of underhanded dealings or a forged document .

At one point Daniel is taken hostage by sinister financiers and Armand is tasked at gunpoint with fetching a certain item, whereabouts unknown, and delivering it to save his son's life. This time critical action takes place concurrent with the stressful labor and delivery sequence of Armand's daughter Annie. For a facts-only synopsis of the action, see https://the-bibliofile.com/all-the-devils-are-here-synposis-summary/ . This site helps me remember what happened, but for the emotion-infused and character-inter-relational version of how it happened, I much prefer the real book. For those who have not read Louise Penny's previous Gamache novels, I believe some of the warmth of the character relations cannot be fully appreciated; those come-lately readers may opine this is a four star book (Really good; maybe only one weak aspect or limited audience). I maintain that the reduction of one star does not reflect the merit of the book, but rather is symbolic of the limited capacity of the readers who can only benefit from four of the five stars the book has to offer. Because of its well-developed and familiar characters, engaging educational settings, sprinkling of bit of tongue-in-cheek humor, and page turning plot, I rate All the Devils Are Here five stars. 

★★★★★ Great! Read it!

Ponder: Gamache 13,14,15 – Drugs, Blizzard, Flood

My pace of working my way through the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny has, for the most part, been set by the rate at which the books become available at the library. Her most recent, #16, All the Devils Are Here, became available much sooner than I was expecting and before the previous three. My husband, Frank however found a good deal on line for those three and bought them used for me. I raced through #13, #14, and #15 since I wanted to read them in order before digging into the one I'd checked out of the library. Like binge watching a TV series, there are pros and cons. 

The segway from one book to the next is smoother since memory is fresh; the impatience and curiosity are allayed more quickly, having not had to wait as long. But the down side is the books become all muddled together and alas, the enjoyment of savoring each is diluted. Plus, since I did not blog each as I finished, now I am scrambling to figure out what to say. Fortunately I did write my review of All the Devils Are Here ©2020 (#16) soon after I finished it. That post is waiting in the wings to be published right after I’ve caught up reviewing these. My solution for being behind for the trio of books, is to write this one post for all three. And I had to "cheat".

Remember the CliffsNotes study guides reminiscent of high school and college days... those yellow and black bumble-bee striped pamphlets? I do not recall ever using them, not so much out of integrity but more out of fear of being accused of "cheating". Per Wikipedia

Detractors of the study guides claim they let students bypass reading the assigned literature. The company claims to promote the reading of the original work and does not view the study guides as a substitute for that reading.

I have found a great use for an excellent website, www.bookrags.com, which is kind of like an online version of CliffsNotes. It helps me jog my memory on books I have read or perhaps did not understand. It is in no way a substitution for reading the book since it is riddled with spoilers and lacks setting description and character development. In this situation I used BOOKRAGS to help me recall the plot lines of the Louise Penny's novels Glass Houses ©2017, Kingdom of the Blind ©2018, and A Better Man ©2019 and provided the link in the following relevant paragraphs for each book. Notice in the image of the covers I also overlaid a one-word clue near the bottom as to what the main action was.

Glass Houses ©2017 (#13) ★★★★☆

A black robed figure, radiating the fear and dread of a grim reaper, appears at a Halloween party in the Canadian village of Three Pines but stands ominously and wordlessly looming on the village green for days afterward. The spooky form is modeled after a cobrador del franc, a character from Spain who acts as a conscious for people with debts (monetary and moral) they have yet to repay, following the guilty parties and shaming them. Days later a murder is committed in Three Pines. I specially liked this graphic with silhouettes of three pines and a hooded figure from a NY Times review.

A creepy twist in the narrative traces the cobrador back to medieval Spain, when plague victims, lepers and witches were consigned to a remote island to die. Those who survived and managed to return to the mainland silently stalked the people who had banished them and, over the years, became mythic figures. In his dark robes, the cobrador becomes a vivid metaphor for opioids like fentanyl, the “modern-day Black Death” that drug cartels are smuggling across the border through Three Pines and into Vermont.

There are two plot lines in Glass Houses: a murder and a battle to bring down a drug cartel. There are two main settings: one in the Canadian village of Three Pines in the fall/winter where a murder is committed and one in a Montreal courtroom in the heat of summer where the accused killer is on trial. Penny cleverly alerts the reader early on which timeline is being followed by description of the heat or cold and not necessarily the dialogue. Suspense in the trial is sustained wondering if Chief Superintendent Armand Gamache, an honorable staunch supporter of the law, will perjure himself when on the witness stand.

Sitting uncomfortably on the hard chair, under oath, Armand Gamache admitted to himself that while he believed in the law, had spent his career working within the justice system, what he really had to answer to was his conscience. And that was proving to be a pretty harsh judge. [Chapter 1]

As usual Penny inserts humorous or poignant scenes that stick with me. Even though I needed to refresh my mind on the basic facts of the book, these scenes stick with me in some visceral way. After the murder victim is discovered by Gamache's wife Reine-Marie she has blood on her hands.

Armand took Reine-Marie to the powder room, and together they washed the worst of the blood off her hands, his large fingers softly rubbing the now dried blood from her skin.... There was still some blood stuck to her wedding ring. It was difficult not to see the symbolism... This was what he'd brought into their marriage. Blood ran through their lives together. [Chapter 13]

Gamache's forces pretend to be inept in order to lull the drug cartel into complacency so they can be trapped. When a battle ensues in the bistro, three ladies of the village, upon hearing gunfire, rush in to even the numbers.

"Does" Armand have a gun?" asked Clara, her eyes wide and hands trembling but her voice was strong. "Non." Reine-Marie looked around and grabbed the fireplace poker. Myrna and Clara did the same thing. Myrna came away with a hatchet-like thing and Clara was left with a fireplace brush. "Fuck," she muttered under her breath. [Chapter 33]

Glass Houses had high action passages, soft emotions, suspense, humor, struggles with conscience, and of course the reprise of characters I have come to identify as my literary family. True, I did need to refer to http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-glass-houses/ to recall the plot, but even so I rate it four stars.

★★★★☆ Really good; maybe only one weak aspect or limited audience.

Kingdom of the Blind ©2018 (#14) ★★☆☆☆
A major character from the previous novel is seriously injured and so I was quite anxious to move ahead and see what the outcome for that character was in the sequel. In this book Chief Superintendent Armand Gamache has been placed on suspension due to investigations related to a drug raid he orchestrated where some of the narcotics slipped into Montreal. 

The first of two storylines takes place in Three Pines in which Gamache and Myrna and a new character Benedict are appointed co-executors on the will of a person none of them knows. They meet at an abandoned snow covered dilapidated house in the woods as instructed in a letter from a deceased notary. Strange? Yes. Curious? Yes. Engaging? Not really... not to me any way. But I suppose since he is on suspension Gamache has the time and willingness to pursue his role of co-executor for a multi-million dollar fortune that oddly enough does not seem to exist. Tracking the line of money has some dealing in the financial world, also not endearing to my interests. I found the clues and logic difficult for me to follow. However, a dead body, potentially a victim of murder, found in the house when it collapses entrapping the three coexecutors within the debris, does up my interest level a bit more.

In the second storyline, Amelia, a young female cadet ejected from the Police Academy becomes immersed in the drug world of Montreal downtown. A frantic search ensues in a desperate attempt to locate the drugs and their processing lab before the deadly concoction is loosed on the streets of Montreal. It is these very drugs that had slipped through Gamache's fingers at the American-Canadian border in the engagement with the drug cartel in the previous book, Glass Houses. There is a police raid on the drug lab, a shoot out, and lethal injection of drugs as the key source of page-turning, heart-pounding action. I find this kind of dark, drug-related drama distasteful to me, and the topic soured my opinion of this book.

 
With two storylines that never intertwined, a drug theme I abhor, and the harrowing experiences of a young woman trying to shake an addiction, I uncharacteristically found Kingdom of the Blind an unappealing Louise Penny selection. I was however, encouraged by learning the outcome of a key character I like, whose fate had been left dangling in the previous novel. For a more inclusive plot summary see http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-kingdom-of-the-blind-a-chief-inspector-gamache-novel.  I rate Kingdom of the Blind two stars meaning

★★☆☆☆ Ok, not great; some redeeming features; I finished it

A Better Man ©2019 (#15) ★★★★☆
A Better Man opens with Armand Gamache's first day back at work, returning from a leave imposed while an investigation into his unconventional actions and decisions as Chief Superintendent took place. He has been demoted to Chief Inspector from his role as Chief Superintendent and must share that role with Jean-Guy Beauvoir, formerly his second in command. Rather than being humiliated by the political intentions to demean him, at the daily morning opening staff meeting, Gamache freely discusses the situation with lower ranked officers who have served under him. Also at that meeting, a young woman, who is known to be in an abusive marriage, is reported missing. Gamache is the officer assigned to look into it. He is actually quite eager and reminiscent to be back in the rank and file of direct crime investigations.

Concurrent to the missing young woman investigation is the threat of several dams in danger of breach due to heavy spring flooding. The newly- appointed, inexperienced Chief Superintendent is not acting quickly nor wisely enough to avert the disaster. Gamache tries to direct a plan to sufficiently divert the water, saving lives and minimizing property damage, while risking accusations of insubordination.  Three Pines is one of the areas in danger of the deluge pouring through their village. During bulldozing efforts to redirect the flood waters nearby, some personal property of the missing woman is uncovered and the case upscales to possible murder. 

A high level of tension is maintained throughout the novel due both to the threat of rising waters and to several cases of people falling into the icy-cold raging torrents or barely being rescued before they do. The body of the missing woman is found floating in the river. At one point in the story, Jean-Guy Beauvoir acts impulsively spurned on by his personal situation and Armand Gamache must physically intervene. The forensic trail followed to detect the story behind the demise of the young woman is creative, unique, and unsuspected. There is a final twist in the determination of whether her death was accidental or intentional.

I especially liked this novel because it featured both the professional and personal lives of the three main detectives, Armand Gamache, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, and Isabelle Lacoste and involves the cast of characters from the Three Pines village. This is important to me in reading the series. One frequently asked question at the Louise Penny Official site is whether it is important to read the Gamache series in order. 

Well, it's not essential...Having said that, there is a strong, and growing, character development arc throughout the books. I think of the books as having two streams - one is the plot - the crime. The other is the personal life of the characters. The first will, for the most part, be contained in a single book. The character development, though, gets deeper and deeper across the series.

A plot summary is available at http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-a-better-man. But to know about the people outside of their work lives, uncover the plot details, try to figure out the investigative clues, feel the vivid action, flip pages quickly in suspense, enjoy the familiarity of a book style... then read the book. I subtracted one star from my rating due to the "limited audience" caveat and rated it four stars. Those not in the readership of Louise Penny fans will not appreciate this book to its fullest potential. I read it not just for the crime but also for the characters.

★★★★☆ Really good; maybe only one weak aspect or limited audience

Ponder: A Great Reckoning

Louise Penny's twelfth book in her Chief Inspector Armand Gamache murder mystery series, A Great Reckoning ©2016, was more a study in characters rather than a travelogue of places for her settings. Although I learned a lot from the various places visited in Penny's tenth book The Long Way Home I much more enjoy exploring people, rather than places. Since she is so excellent in creating, developing, and portraying characters, this book, which reflected Penny's particular talent, was consequently excellent and hugely enjoyable for me. The murder, takes place in the Sûreté Academy, the school in which cadets are trained for service in the Sûreté du Québec. Four young characters are introduced, two seniors and two freshman. Several professors, each unique and inscrutable, enter the character mix. There is corruption in the Sûreté Academy and former Chief Investigator Gamache assumes the role of Commander Gamache to clean up the academy. 

However, a great setting is not absent from the mix nor is it restricted to only the academy. Penny's technique in this novel is a clever way to expand the setting without resorting to a travelogue as in the tenth book The Long way Home. An ancient map is found within the walls of the bistro in the village of Three Pines. This map plays a role in ferreting out the killer. There is a discussion about cartography that enlightened me to consider how difficult making a map could be without today's modern technology allowing aerial views. A map is an early example of man taking something three dimensional and representing it in two dimensions, like topography maps or naval charts for example.

One of Gamache's first tasks in his role as Commander is to appoint his new staff and take control of those old staff that must be disciplined or fired. His exchange with the corrupt former commander, who ruled by brute punishments and fear, is riveting. Here is the closing scene at the end of Chapter 3 from their interaction.

 "You will not be my second-in-command, of course, but you will continue as full professor teaching crime prevention and community relations. I'd like your course outline by the end of the week."
Serge Leduc sat there, unable to move or speak, long after Commander Gamache's footsteps had stopped echoing down the hall. And in the silence Leduc realized what Gamache had exuded. It wasn't force. It was power.

In Chapter 14 Commander Gamache  speaks to the body of cadets about the murder that took place within the living quarters of the academy.

"Be careful. This is a time of menace. There's a murderer among us. Almost certainly in this room"...."It's too easy to feed the anger. Too cowardly to stoke the hate. You must look inside yourself and decide who you are and who you want to be. Character is not created in times like these. It's revealed."

A theory is postulated and defended that geography and history are inexplicable intertwined; the former even dictating the latter. Cities flourish near rivers. Accessible locations become crossroads where different ideas and arts are born and nourished. I disliked the subject of history in my high school years, finding it boring. It would have been so much more interesting had someone placed it in context as in Chapter 27 in which there is a discussion between one of the academy students and a manager of toponymie for the region near the village of Three Pines.

"A place's history is decided by its geography. Is the terrain mountainous? If so, it's harder to invade. The people are more independent, but also isolated. Is it surrounded by water? If so it's probably more cosmopolitan –" ... "But easier to conquer, like Venice" ...  "Venice gave up trying to defend herself and decided to open her doors to all comers. As a result it became a hub of commerce, of knowledge and art and music. Because if its position geographically, it became a gateway. Geography decides if you're the invader or the invaded."

One of the aspects of Penny's works that I enjoy is her little nuggets of food for thought. Like the previously cited force/power juxtaposition and history/geography relation, she also introduces a comparison of law and justice. The motto of the Suréte is Service, Integrity, Justice. Even so, because Gamache is the head of the academy where the murder occurs, he requests that a neutral party be involved to monitor that the investigation is carried out without bias. This neutral party is Paul Gélinas from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The RCMP motto is Maintain le Droit. Defend the Law. As pondered in Chapter 26,

Paul Gélinas had never been completely comfortable with that [motto]. He knew that law was not always the same as justice. But it had the advantage of being fairly clear. Whereas justice could be fluid, situational. A matter of interpretation. And perception.

The book opens with an impressive marvel of Canadian scenery, Percé Rock. Although very little of the action occurs there, it's symbolism ties in with the theme of corruption.

Percé Rock (French: Rocher Percé, meaning "pierced rock") is a huge sheer rock formation in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence on the tip of the Gaspé Peninsula in Québec, Canada, off Percé Bay. Percé Rock appears from a distance like a ship under sail. It is one of the world's largest natural arches located in water and is considered a geologically and historically rich natural icon of Quebec. It is a major attraction in the Gaspésie region.

As is my custom, I enjoyed yet another of Louise Penny's books... complex characters, varied intricate settings, clues to collect, many tidbits and turns of a phrase to rouse the brain cells, and again as always, another revelation of some information about Canada. Besides, how can you resist a mystery with a "treasure map"?   ★★★★★ Great! Read it!

Ponder: The Nature of the Beast

The Nature of the Beast © 2015, Louise Penny's eleventh book in the Inspector Armand Gamache series, returns to her regular formula with a death near the beginning of the book. However, it is not immediately obvious if this death is accidental or an intentional murder. This death is especially sad and potentially distasteful since it involves a nine year old boy. He is an energetic, likable boy, prone to exaggeration and crying wolf due to his vivid imagination. How many enemies can a child accrue in his short life and what motive could there be to kill him... exasperation maybe, but murder? I was rapidly drawn into this story.

The majority of the action in this novel happens in Three Pines or close environs. As reality is separated from hyperbolical tale-telling, the story becomes less engaging for me. A parallel plot line involves historic development of weapons of mass destruction. It is based on a fact that I looked up in Wikipedia, something called Project Babylon, the development of a Supergun, involving Saddam Hussein. This book educated me but did not entertain me, aspects I pursue in my pleasure reading. A Supergun sequestered in the forests outside the peaceful quaint village of Three Pines is difficult to accept. Even Inspector Gamache is incredulous. As relayed in Chapter 16:

As the plot plods on, involving secret service agents, ballistic experts, and an imprisoned psychotic serial killer, I became less engaged. I think I would have preferred to read a discourse on Superman or even Superglue. Some mechanical transformer type aspects of the triggering mechanism of the Supergun, along with the efforts made to disguise it, did spark my interest; but my focus was preferentially pointed at resolving the circumstances of that nine year old boy to whom I had become attached at the very beginning. Similar to my discussion of Penny's sixth novel Bury Your Dead (my post for 2/24/21) my interest levels in each of the concurrent plot lines of this eleventh book were unequal. 

As usual the back story of the core characters of Armand, Jean-Guy, Reine Marie and the villagers encouraged me to read on. But this was not one of my favorite Louise Penny novels. I had given books six through nine in the Gamache series five stars; I had given four stars to book ten which I most recently completed. I give The Nature of the Beast my lowest rating yet of her books. I will not be deterred from reading her future ones however, even though I rate The Nature of the Beast only

★★☆☆☆ Ok, not great; some redeeming features; I finished it

Ponder: The Long Way Home

The Long Way Home © 2014, Louise Penny's tenth book in the Inspector Armand Gamache series, is indeed investigative but there is no murder at the beginning that focuses questions and assesses suspects. This book is about searching for Clara Morrow's missing husband Peter who did not return after a one year agreed upon separation.  Both Clara and Peter are artists and once again this book has an art theme similar to Penny's first book Still Life (my post for 2/28/20) and her seventh book A Trick of the Light (my post for 3/2/21). I particularly liked the following aspects of this novel:

• Increased knowledge of Canada geography
• Travel aspect (since COVID-19 has made me home bound)
• Perspective on the community of the art world
• Further appreciation of paintings
• Clever phraseology and word definitions
• Views on retirement
  
  

Louise Penny has a winner in the idyllic setting of Three Pines and wisely keeps it in each of her novels. However, it is difficult to maintain belief, even fictional belief, that such a setting can support so many murders. This problem is like the one in the sleepy Maine village of Cabot Cove from the 12 season TV series Murder She Wrote fame. Murder mystery author and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher in the show never seems to run out of murders to solve.  Three Pines still plays apart in this tenth novel but, I think the strength of this book lies in its varied settings.

In The Long Way Home Armand Gamache has taken an early retirement, moving to the quaint Village of Three Pines. Four familiar characters, Clara (artist) Myrna (former psychologist and bookstore owner) Armand Gamache and Inspector Jean-Guy Beauvoir  set off searching for Clara's husband and take the reader along with them to various locales, following the trail Peter Morrow took to discover himself as an artist. This traveling device gave me the opportunity to learn about several places. 

Further appreciation of paintings
Art galleries in Toronto introduced me to the artist Clarence Gagnon. His works were described as so warm and colorful I was compelled to look them up. He painted many scenes from Baie-Saint-Paul, a Quebec city on the northern shore of the Saint Lawrence River at the mouth of the Gouffre River; it known for its art galleries, shops, and restaurants. The search group went to Baie-Saint-Paul Here are two of Gagnon's works:  first, Winter Morning, Baie-Saint-Paul followed by A Québec Village Street. His works remind me a bit of Charles Wysocki.

Increased knowledge of Canada geography
Peter's trail out beyond the Canadian cities of Montreal in Québec and Toronto in Ontario is enabling me to pick up a bit more Canadian geography. Maybe I will get better at answering those province and territory questions about Canada on Jeopardy.

Travel aspect and perspectives on art world
Peter ventured beyond Canada in search of enlightenment, making visits to the countries of Scotland and France as well. I learned what Arrondissements (administrative districts) are in Paris, France. Peter's wanderings took him to 15th Arrondissement which is in Paris-South, south of the Eiffel Tower, bordering the Seine River, a gathering place for artists. The Wikipedia link for the 15th arrondissement describes it as 

... an eclectic residential area where quaint shops around La Motte Grenelle metro station give way to the Tour Montparnasse skyscraper. The Musée Bourdelle features sculptor Antoine Bourdelle's studio and garden where artists like Chagall also worked. The sprawling Parc André Citroën along the Seine draws tourists and families to greenhouses and a tethered hot-air balloon that offers city views.

In Dumfriesshire, Scotland I learned of an artist's garden called The Garden of Cosmic Speculation. Peter went there. The garden is private but usually opens for only five hours on one day each year for 1500 ticket holders, a fact alluded to in Penny's novel that piqued my curiosity enough to look up this garden.

The Garden of Cosmic Speculation is a 30 acre (12 hectare) sculpture garden created by landscape architect and theorist Charles Jencks at his home, Portrack House, in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. Like much of Jencks' work, the garden is inspired by modern cosmology....The garden is inspired by science and mathematics, with sculptures and landscaping on these themes, such as black holes and fractals. (photo credit)

In this novel, the high intensity action scene typically found near the end of Penny's books was the journey up the St. Lawrence River from Sept-Illes (on map halfway across and one fourth down) to Tabaquen (near Gros-Mécatina far right on the map) in a ship during a horrendous storm. Tabaquen translates as "sorcerer", a name which further contributes to setting a mood of unease.

Clever phraseology and word definitions
This novel like other's of Louise Penny is sprinkled with memorable, pithy phrases.

on courtesy and kindness:
Chief Inspector nevertheless understood that courtesy should not be mistaken for genuine kindness. One was nurture, a polite upbringing. The other was nature. [Chapter 7]

on jealousy:
"It's like drinking acid," said Myrna, "and expecting the other person to die." [Chapter 6]

Views on retirement
Armand Gamache is able to help Clara in the search for her husband since he took an early retirement from his position as Chief Inspector of the Sureté. His search for internal for calm after his stressful job and other people questioning if this lifestyle will be enough for him are topics touched on throughout. These thoughts resonate with the process my husband and I went through when we retired. I find writing these blog posts is reflective. Their length is definitely greater than a mere book review merits.

Rating
Normally I race through Louise Penny's novels. This one was not as much a page turner. I enjoyed it over several days and I found looking up obscure (new to me) places rewarding. I rate it

★★★★☆      Really good; maybe only one weak aspect or limited audience

Perhaps I am slowing down because I am tiring of Louise Penny, but I do not think so. I still intend to forge ahead and read her seventeen books in the Gamache series. Correction – I just learned an eighteenth is due out August 2021. I can do it. I am retired.

Ponder: How the Light Gets In

The ninth of the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache novels,  How the Light Gets In ©2013 by Louise Penny, was another winner for me. Completing this book means I am past the halfway mark of reading her seventeen novels. The book had the familiar characters of Armand Gamache and his second in command, Jean-Guy Beauvoir; it eventually resolved a conflict between them, which had been left hanging at the end of the eighth novel. 

How the Light Gets In has three story plot lines running at the same time: a missing person case, corruption at the highest level of the Suréte, and the damaged relationship between Armand and Jean-Guy. Unlike my criticism of  the three-timeline Bury Your Dead (sixth novel reviewed in my post dated 2/24/21), all three plots of How the Light Gets In held my interest equally and intensely, prompting me to keep turning pages rapidly and eagerly. The book's setting has the reader traveling back and forth across the famous four-mile long Champlain Bridge between Montreal and the quaint village of Three Pines. 

The action takes place only partially in Three Pines but still the villagers play key roles.

• Myrna, the former psychologist who owns a book store, requests Armande's help in locating a friend of hers. Myrna's case involves an extremely well known personage; clues to its resolution take Armand beyond the environs of Three Pines. Although on the surface it appears to be a case of a missing person, foul play is eventually revealed both in the present and the past.
• In parallel, corruption within the internal affairs of Suréte is being revealed and a heinous crime is being flushed out. The action scenes from this corruption plot line are a primary source of suspense and continual tension while the climax near the end features key roles played by many of the Three Pines villagers.
• Ruth, the eccentric old poet with a pet duck named Rosa, is instrumental in repairing the relationship between Jean-Guy and Armand.

I rate How the Light Gets In five stars. Kudos to Louise Penny for pulling off the multiple plot lines with great skill while keeping my favorite characters playing key roles throughout.
★★★★★ Great! Read it!

Ponder: The Beautiful Mystery

The Beautiful Mystery ©2012 is the eighth book in the Chief Inspector Armande Gamache series by Louise Penny. I am still enamored by these murder mysteries, each a distinct case but still populated by a recurring cast of baseline characters that I have come to adopt as my literary family. The title refers to a series of chants that have such a mesmerizing, calming effect on both the singers and the listeners as to be referred to as "the beautiful mystery". The singers in this situation are monks in a monastery hidden deep in the woods of a secluded island in the wilds of Montreal. Despite a strict vow of silence, a dedicated work ethic, and a commitment to God, a murder is committed among their ranks. The meditative power of choral music, believed to be the precursor to Gregorian chants, is insufficient to deter one of the monks from being the perpetrator with his motive indiscernible.

In a setting with limited communications with the outside world, Chief Armande Gamache and his second in command Jean-Guy Beauvoir set out to investigate and solve the murder. Beginning to adjust to the cloistered atmosphere of the monastery while doggedly collecting information, evidence, and clues, their well oiled system is twisted askew by the abrupt, unannounced arrival of Chief Superintendent Sylvan Francoeur, Gamache's superior. Francoeur seems intent on thwarting their attempt to do their job, complicating the investigations for reasons unknown. He also is aiming to drive a wedge between Gamache and Beauvoir. You could say he threw a monk-ey wrench into the works. [Groan. Bad, bad pun.]

After reading each of Louise Penny's books I am curious to look into some of the background for her settings and situation. She modeled the fictional monastery of The Beautiful Mystery, Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups, after the real Abbey of Saint-Benoît-du-Lac, situated on the shores of Lake Memphremagog, less than 90 minutes east of Montreal

Bits of Penny's descriptive language throughout this novel periodically leapt out to amuse me:

When Lauds ended the Chief and Beauvoir stood in their pew, watching. It was, thought Beauvoir, a bit like taking the break in a game of pool. Balls heading off in all different directions. That's what this looked like. Monks going here, there and everywhere. Scattering, though not actually bounding off the walls. [Chapter 14]

Many of the brothers are fine musicians. We have recorders and violins. Or are they fiddles? I'm never quite sure what the difference is." [spoken by the abbot]
"One sings, the other dances," said Gamache.
The abbot looked at him with interest. "What a nice way of putting it." [Chapter 15]

Gamache picked up the page. "I don't suppose you have a photocopy machine?"
"No, but we have twenty-three monks." [Chapter 15]

The murder itself is well woven, as I have come to expect from a work of Louise Penny. Once again the intricate entanglements of the main murder storyline is intertwined with a parallel storyline of the personal relationship among the characters I have become so invested in. I am kept in suspense as to the revelation of the murderer and his motive until the very last pages. The closing Gamache/Beauvoir interactions shocked me and left me hungering for the next novel. At the risk of sounding like a Johnny-one-note I once again rate this Louise Penny book five stars. I devoured it, beginning one day and finishing it the next.
★★★★★ Great! Read it!

Ponder: A Trick of the Light

 A Trick of the Light © 2011 gives a fly on the wall view of the art world. The murder mystery by Louise Penny indeed portrays the emotional side of the art world – "does that stir you?" or "what feelings does it evoke?" But moreover, it also paints a picture of the competitive business side of the art world  – money grubbing, political maneuvering, back-stabbing, social posturing – where it is more important to make a buck than to make a statement. The insight I gained kept my interest once again with this, the seventh book I have read of Louise Penny's as she leads the reader through the sleuthing of Chief Inspector Armande Gamache.

The story takes place in two locations: first, the Musée d'Art Contemporain in Montréal, and second, the familiar quaint Québec village of Three Pines. Clara Morrow, a feature character in the Louise Penny novels is nervously having her first official private showing of her works, a coming out of sorts into the art community. At the vernissage, a cocktail-style party to launch Clara's first solo show, there was a variety of guests, from the straightforward villagers of Three Pines – Clara's husband and closest friends, to the highly polished socialites of the wealthy art community – art dealers and gallery owners, to the struggling poor artists – wannabe's valiantly striving to become famous. The stage is being set with suspects for a murder that has yet to happen in a location yet to be revealed.

The novel is sprinkled with bits of jealousy between husband and spouse and among "fellow" artists. Greed abounds as there is competition to sign on a lucrative artist, creating yet another motive for murder. But then again, is there revenge lurking as well for past slights? One aspect of Penny's work that I enjoy is that I rarely do guess "whodunnit" until the very last pages even though she provides an abundance of clues and motives.

The victim is discovered, the very night of Clara' vernissage, spoiling her night of recognition after lifelong efforts. To add insult to injury, the victim is found "among the bleeding hearts and lilacs" in Clara Morrow's very own garden, neck snapped. Along side/ underneath the body is found a coin with the image of a camel on it, the words of the serenity prayer on the reverse side.

God grant me serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

The courage to change the things I can, and

The wisdom to know the difference

As the clues begin to amass, the reader is still simultaneously treated to tidbits of the inner turmoils of the private lives of Chief Inspector Armande Gamache's family and co-workers, all characters in which I maintain a vested interest. These back stories and continual growth of these individuals keep me wanting to launch into the next novel she has written. I am lucky that novels #8 and #9 just became available off my wait list at the library. I will stop blogging and begin reading!

But first a final detail: I rate A Trick of the Light five stars, a rating I have bestowed on four of the first seven of her books I have read: Still Life (4 ★s), A Fatal Grace (3 ★s), The Cruelest Month (5 ★s), A Rule Against Murder (5 ★s),  The Brutal Telling (5 ★s),  Bury Your Dead (4 ★s). In my rating system this rating translates to   ★★★★★  Great! Read it!

Ponder: Bury Your Dead

Bury Your Dead ©2010 is the sixth book in the Chief Investigator Armande Gamache series by Louise Penny. This book had an interesting feature; it had three mysteries being investigated simultaneously. The three plots address: 

• a re-investigation of a previously closed murder case
• a hostage search and rescue operation
• the investigation of a third murder case involving Quebec history and archeological digs
  
  

The book opens with action-packed SWAT team maneuvers. This first story captured my interest immediately as the culmination, not the beginning, of this storyline. Chief Inspector Gamache's level-headed actions and demeanor in this time of crisis is phenomenal, showing a side of him beyond the cerebral, discerning, deliberate, unhurried inspector. 

The second story addressed the re-opening of a closed murder case in Three Pines, one from Penny's fifth novel The Brutal Telling. I have come to know well and become deeply invested in the cast of Three Pine residents from previous novels, so this story instantly gripped me as well. To divulge more would be a spoiler for those who have not read the fifth book The Brutal Telling.

The third plot was the primary plot of Bury Your Dead and is described succinctly on the back cover. It is rich in Quebec history and Canadian military battles, and assumes a minimal knowledge of Samuel de Champlain, father of Quebec. Although the author supplies some bare bones facts, I felt I would have enjoyed this strand more had I had some background knowledge of my own. My ignorance of Canadian history is non-negligible, so reading this book did give me greater insight into the friction between the English and the French in Quebec.

To enlighten the next reader here are a few facts about the Canadian hero from Wikipedia:

Samuel de Champlain was a French colonist, navigator, cartographer, draftsman, soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler. He made between 21 and 29 trips across the Atlantic Ocean, and founded Quebec, and New France, on 3 July 1608. An important figure in Canadian history, Champlain created the first accurate coastal map during his explorations, and founded various colonial settlements.... Samuel de Champlain was temporarily buried in the church while a standalone chapel was built to hold his remains in the upper part of the city. Unfortunately, this small building, along with many others, was destroyed by a large fire in 1640. Though immediately rebuilt, no traces of it exist anymore: his exact burial site is still unknown, despite much research since about 1850, including several archaeological digs in the city.

I also checked out a children's book from the library after I'd read  Bury Your Dead and while writing this post. In simple terms, it gave me a much better appreciation of why the location of Samuel de Champlain's grave was of such interest, forming an ongoing mystery on yet another plane in this novel. The illustrations of Quebec in 1758, fifty years after the French colonists arrived there, were also to be appreciated.

One sensation strongly stressed throughout this third storyline is the absolute frigid temperature in Quebec. I wonder if this is to pay homage to the Champlain's colonizing Quebec in 1608 where less than 30% of the first settlers survived the winter. It is no wonder all the book covers have a similar theme of extreme cold.

 

Bury Your Dead uses a writing technique similar to dual timelines. Why do I say similar to dual and not use the word equivalent to three? Oddly enough, upon research, I learned that there is no such word! There is singular, dual, and quadral but the closest for a three equivalent is trial or treble. Trial in the United States has a more legal connotation and treble mean three identical items not three distinct but parallel items. Numeric accuracy set aside for now, a discussion I found on dual timelines postulated that to work well, an author should do the following:

1. Make both timelines equally interesting.
2. Balance the timelines.
3. Avoid “filler” scenes.
4. Double-check plot points.
5. Avoid confusing transitions.
6. Tighten timelines within the third act.

Louise Penny wrote admirably, meeting points two through six but falling short in making all timelines equally interesting for me, because I am not a history buff. In retrospect I mildly regret that I had not read the Wikipedia background information on Champlain beforehand. Unfortunately, this third timeline was the main one. For this reason, and this reason alone, I dropped my star rating down from five to four; even though I positively ate up the first two plots. As I researched the Champlain angle afterwards, I grew more and more appreciative of the intricacies in Louise Penny's plot. Comparatively here is how I have rated her other books along; the trailing dates are links to my review of each:

1. ★★★★☆ Still Life by Louise Penny ©2005 (2/28/20)
2. ★★★☆☆ A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny ©2006 (8/30/20)
3. ★★★★★ The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny ©2007 (10/16/20)
4. ★★★★★ A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny ©2008 (11/24/20)
5. ★★★★★ The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny ©2009 (12/23/20)
6. ★★★★☆ Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny ©2010 (this post)

My goal to read Louise Penny's murder mysteries in order has been repeatedly thwarted by the long wait list for her books at my local library. Louise Penny must be popular with a lot of folks other than me. I have checked sources other than the library, and neither Amazon nor eBay offer any decent prices on her books. Even bargain bundles are not inexpensive. When A Trick of the Light (#7) became available to check out of the library, buying #6 would enable me to move forward. I caved and bought Bury Your Dead (#6) from Amazon. After my long wait, I dove into Bury Your Dead book, finishing it within a couple days, Quebec City history and all. I will donate it to the library with a note that they need more copies of this book. I have also completed A Trick of the Light, but that is a topic for another review. 

I would still like to have read all seventeen of Louise Penny's novels by the end of 2021. One book a month is not too much to ask... right?

Ponder: The Brutal Telling

As I work my way through the Chief Inspector Gamache murder mystery series of Louise Penny I am repeatedly aware that it is not plot alone that keeps me coming back. I love the characters in the quaint village of Three Pines in Canada and, since this is her fifth book I have read, I am well acquainted with them as old friends. Therefore, it comes as a shock when one of them is a suspect in the murder investigation in her novel The Brutal Telling ©2009. An author rarely writes a character out of a book unless there is to be an end or drastic change to the series. Will this personable, well-known character be doomed and gone forever? No! Can't be...! But maybe...? 

I am reminded of a tongue-in-cheek exchange in the 1999 Galaxy Quest movie with Tim Allen and Sigourney Weaver, illustrating a supportive counterpart to this character assumption. In the first 30 seconds of a YouTube excerpt, a small party of the crew is sent off on an exploratory trip to an uncharted planet and one of the team members laments that he is doomed.

You're not gonna die on the planet, Guy.

I'm not? Then what's my last name?

Uh... um, um, ... I dunno.

Nobody knows. You know why? Because

my character is not important enough for a last name.

Because I'm gonna die.

Five minutes in.

Guy, you have a last name.

Do I? Do I? For all you know I'm just Crewman No. 6!

My radar has been triggered. Why detail a character and build up a rapport with him only to write him out as guilty. No way! But... but... the evidence... surely points to... This is a suspense building option that would not have been available to the author had she not written four previous books in the series.

There is another suspense option built into the book with the cover. Shown on the left is the cover in Greece and shown on the right is the cover in Canada.

 

An article discussing the publication of The Brutal telling in Greece states:

Off to Greece this week, with the cover of The Brutal Telling as envisioned by our Greek colleagues. There’s clearly a stark difference between the two cover treatments: while we chose to emphasize the fall season in our jacket approach, they focus on traditional mystery elements. With the silhouette of a raven, their cover puts the reader in the mind of Edgar Allen Poe, and immediately suggests something sinister is afoot. In contrast, the US jacket focuses on the vibrant fall foliage of Canada, with only the darkness at the edges to symbolize danger. Both jackets, however, speak to the untamed landscape that Chief Inspector Gamache must navigate to solve the crime

A comment in that article goes on to say that

"[Covers] are like a sound track. You need them but you may not really notice them!"

To me this is further evidence that it is unfortunate that some electronic books do not have covers since they are not needed for sales. What a missed opportunity to lead the reader where the author wants him led. 

Along with characters and suspense, I am bemused with the embedded knowledge in Louise Penny's books. There is a subtle example as early as the second page of the first chapter:

The dark was punctuated by flickering candles throwing fantastic, grotesque shadows. Night seemed to have seeped through the cracks in the logs and settled in the cabin, curled in corners and under the bed. Many native tribes believed evil lived in corners, which was why their traditional homes were rounded. Unlike the square homes the government had given them.

Some of the descriptive language is whimsical. In the second chapter:

In the kitchen Gamache's German shepherd, Henri, sat up in his bed and cocked his head. He had huge oversize ears which made Gamache think he wasn't purebred but a cross between a shepherd and a satellite dish.

The third chapter keeps amusing me with the philosophical banter:

In Beauvoir's experience Darwin was way wrong. The fittest didn't survive. They were killed by the idiocy of their neighbors, who continued to bumble along, oblivious.

But I have not yet told you what the book is about, have I? The facts alone can be gained from Louise Penny's official website where she divulges the first chapter of each of her books in its entirety so it is easy to get roped in.  Here is an image of the back cover tease from The Brutal Telling and a link to the first chapter which definitely develops a sinister mood.

 

An amusing anecdote is my learning of a new vocabulary word – dogsbody.

Never having been exposed to it before, the very next night I heard the word on the 2008 television series Merlin. A happy circumstance of being homebound due to Covid is the discovery on Netflix of this delightful British fantasy based loosely on the Arthurian legends with Arthur and Merlin as teenage boys.

Usually in my posts, I discuss the reason behind the title; but the correlation is explained well in the body of the book, not just in a fleeting phrase, so I will leave relaying its relevance to Louise Penny's inspiration and expertise. For more insight refer to an annoted link about The  Brutal Telling. 

There is a scene where Gamache's adult daughter gets in a screaming match with Beauvoir, Gamache's second in command because they do not see eye to eye. A glimpse into family dynamics adds a bit of zest to a novel already brimming with plot, characters, ambience, suspense, language, and a variety of settings. I rate it five stars ★★★★★ which translates in my scale to "Great! Read it!". I did not even subtract one star for lack of character familiarity. Louise Penny has fifteen books so I am a third of the way there and plan to go the distance.

Ponder: A Rule Against Murder

A Rule Against Murder ©2008 is the fourth in the series of Chief Inspector Gamache novels by Louise Penny. I began it October 12th but did not post my thoughts about it until now. Hmm... can I remember that far back? Fortunately I bookmark phrases in books I find pleasurable in the language or sentiment to cite at a later time, so I will share those tidbits here.

I do recall that the location is a fresh change from the town of Three Pines near Montreal, quaint and  picturesque as it is. After all, how many murders can a small, pleasant, supposedly crime-free town support? In this novel Gamache is on a vacation with his wife at a resort, Manoir Bellechasse, a treat they allow themselves annually for their wedding anniversary. After only one chapter into A Rule Against Murder, I already wanted to visit Manoir Hovey, the actual Canada lakeside resort after which Penny modeled the resort in the book. Staying at a calm retreat such as these would be quite enjoyable as long as there wasn't a murder committed there during the visit. Gamache was not so lucky as to have an uninterrupted vacation. Several days into his stay, someone suffered an untimely death, yet to be determined if it was accidental or intentional.

The vacation started out relaxed, nostalgic, and indulgent. The food described is delectable and the desserts even more heavenly. Confronted with the choice of "fresh mint ice cream on an eclair filled with creamy dark organic chocolate" or a "pudding du chomeur à l'erable avec creme chantilly" I would be hard pressed to decide, as were Gamache and his wife Reine-Marie. I learned per Wikipedia that Pouding chômeur (literally unemployed man pudding) is a dessert that was created by female factory workers early during the Great Depression in Quebec, Canada. It is made from cake batter and hot syrup, then baked so the syrup bubbles up and through. 

"Oh, dear God," whispered Reine-Marie, turning to her husband.
"What was it Oscar Wilde said?"
"I can resist everything except temptation."

Wondering about the chosen title for this murder mystery novel, I learned its source fairly early on, at the end of Chapter Twelve. A conversation about the murder took place between Madam Dubois, owner of the resort, and Inspector Beauvois, Gamache's right hand man.

"What happened here last night isn't allowed," said Madame Dubois.
It was such an extraordinary thing to say it stopped the ravenous Inspector Beauvoir from taking another bite of his roast beef on baguette.
"You have a rule against murder?" he asked.
"I do. When my husband and I bought the Bellechasse we made a deal with the forest. Any death that wasn't natural wasn't allowed. Mice are caught alive and released. Birds are fed in the winter and even the squirrels and chipmunks are welcome. There's no hunting, not even fishing. The pact we made was that everything that stepped foot on this land would be safe."

This promise was hardly fulfilled when one guest is crushed in an extravagant manner and another is dangled from a rooftop. An attic room is filled with grotesque gargoyle-like taxidermic reminders of "what happens when creatures turn against each other."

As with Penny's works, the novel has an intriguing and delightfully detailed cast of characters. A large number of guests at the resort are members of a wealthy and dysfunctional family, there for a reunion. Gamache ponders on their clipped conversations with each other, ripe with mean innuendos. He described them as

... malevolent inflections that rode into polite conversations on the backs of reasonable word. And the feeling flattened and folded and turned into something else, like emotional origami. Made to look pretty, but disguising something not at all attractive.

Emotional origami! I have to remember that term; love it. Even the staff range in age and disposition, from the college students who are marking out the time in a summer job to the aged maitre'd who has been at the manor for years and takes huge pride in his work. 

Pierre Patenaude stood at the door of the kitchen. It was clean and orderly, everything in its place. The glasses lined up, the silverware in its sleeves, the bone china carefully stacked with fine tissue between each plate. He'd learned from his mother. She'd taught him that order was freedom. To live in chaos was to live in prison. Order freed the mind for other things.

Order was freedom - another phrase I want to remember! There is a wide selection of suspects for a murder - if it was indeed a murder. The technical aspects of how the deed could be pulled off is cause for consideration throughout the story and adds to the mystery. This book has characters that come alive, a plot that  challenges the intellect, conversations chock full of nastily amusing insinuations, all set in a location the reader would definitely like to visit. As a bonus, it is sprinkled throughout with brief, witty phrases that, far from being sesquipedalian, tickle and delight me, begging to be recalled and recounted.

I realize that for those who have not read Louise Penny's previous three books, a five-star rating is a stretch. At least half a star come from familiarity with the recurring characters I now view as friends. Nevertheless, because of the level of my general enjoyment, I would rate A Rule Against Murder five stars, which in my system translates to
 ★★★★★ Great! Read it!